The True Australian Xbox Experience - Is it worth it . . . ?

With the Aussie dollar performing so well of late the question has to be asked, why do we pay so much for Xbox LIVE?

DarkArmada writes: "It's a fairly straight forward concept, one that is utilized by sales people the world over and is a common explanation for "is this really worth the money" type questions. In Australia we pay $AUD79.95 per year (RRP) for access to Xbox LIVE. For reference, that is about $6.66 per month (spooky) and just under $1.54 per week. This year, we'll have paid just 0.22 per day to access Xbox LIVE. Why does this matter? For starters, let's remember that Xbox LIVE is not considered an "item" or a real-world-goods we can hold in our hands, it is simply a service. Secondly, we do not have local access to Xbox LIVE, we run off of the US Marketplace servers."

What do you mean secret agenda . . We support the 360 as a platform, we enjoy the games, but that does not mean we have to put up with things that do not support us when it comes to getting good service. Just because you like something, does not mean you lay down and let that something walk all over you. You speak out, otherwise nothing happens.

I feel the same, It is quite disheartening to hear about all these great new additions coming to Xboxlive yet we in Aus still haven't got the features that have been enjoyed by our American friends for years.

This is not applicable only for you guys in Australia but most for Europe as well...here in Scandinavia the only thing I found during a year in that Video Marketplace was a Robin Williams vide for 2400 MS points I think.

Certainly we we pay more if you use the currency exchange but that's very subjective I really don't pay attention to that I'm ok with paying for a service worth it but not for half XBL service like it is the case for most of the people outside US...we practically pay for PLAYING ONLINE and DEMOS

PLAYING ONLINE: Peer to Peer, which means that our internet connections are used to host matches, I have no problem with that I have 20 mbps upload so I can be a good host but the problem is that the service doesn't seem to care about that...

Everybody talk about the high standards of XBL, QA, etc, etc...but I have yet to see a game that stops your from hosting a match your connection can't handle...PEER-TO-PEER is not bad if you:

- Restrict who can host public matches for a certain number of players - Ranked matchmaking chooses always best host - Allow dedicated hosting so people with good connection can share it

Why MSFT doesn't demand this from developers? BECAUSE IF THEY DO XBL WOULD BE A GHOST TOWN

DEMOS: Released by the publisher for free, both XBL and PSN get them so why to charge or lock them for silver members during 2 weeks?

In the past we payed for peer-to-peer online gaming and today it's still the same.

I get the same demos on PSN, have friend list, can message friends (soon over from my PC as well...silver XBL can't do that anymore), now in-game message works fine, still missing in-game chat otherwise today I can chat with up to 6 friends at the same time and share pictures, I have yet to experience lag when playing online in the PS3...I get themes and wallpapers every week for free, themes completely change the look of your XMB, a real theme.

My conclusion is that today XBL charges you for chatting in-game.

IMO XBL is well worth the money in the US and I feel MSFT don't care much about the PAL and Japanese regions, they're fully focused in the US market now and good for US gamers, it's after all MSFT homeland and we shouldn't complain if we have another choice like PSN, it's not like XBL is the only service where you can play AAA games today. Free will.

Strong reason why I didn't get a 360. I can understand that the LIVE feature is worth every penny in the US. But here in Australia. It doesn't take you very far past what the PS3 does already without that surcharge.

Basically, you pay MS for letting you use your internet connection, which you are already paying on a monthly or yearly basis, to play online games. It would be understandable if MS offered dedicated servers however, this isn't the case.

I can't. No, it has nothing to do with the possibility of you opening up a can of whoop-arse on me but rather the fact that you are tight on the money here. MS is making people pay to play online with their console... This is something that is free for PC, PS3, and just about every other device I can think of. It's just not worth it anymore (and in my opinion never was) now that there are other places to play online and for free.

It would explain the jump in subscriptions to the PSN over the last year. They went from 5 million sub so 10 million in just a year!

Remember even though the US gets more on there marketplace, all the extra content they do get is available with a free silver membership( though you do need to pay for the items with MS points of course). Gold only gives you exclusive demos for a week and Online Play, everything else is free to access.

Still it does raise some good points. MS really need to at least cut down the price of live or offer there gold members more. A free arcade game a month would be nice

I lived in Australia for a year and I hate it everything is damn expensive! I don't understand why games are so expensive over there which made you think many many many times before each purchase! Lucky I bought a PS3 60GB bundle Motorstorm+Resistance+2nd SIXAXIS for AUD978 (mind you that was the cheapest for that SKU before they phased it out for 40GB) and I bought most of my games imported via EBay since PS3 games are region free! unlucky for those with 360, they can't import and need to pay a lot! no problem with online play because it's FREE for PSN! if you think gaming is expensive in NA, it's like a LUXURY in Australia!

...but what's with the big difference in price when buying from the US store or Oz (or NZ) store? You are buying the right to download what is essentially the same file sitting on the same server and yet you pay 3 times more?

What ever happened to applying exchange rates?

This is just as bad on the PS3. Elefunk = $4.99 US, $15.50 NZ and yet the US to NZ exchange rate is around 0.78c

I have the option to not buy content. Where as online services have a compulsory cost.

Its not an issue of price alone. When you look at it, we are paying more, but we are still receiving an inferior service in comparison to the US.If I were a resident in the US and had full access, then no problem.

That said, the ps3 doesn't redeem itself either fully. The only difference is that the Online features is still free. But store contentwise, PSN doesn't have an edge over the LIVE service.

Thus, the original argument still stands. Does LIVE's services really do itself justice for the price they ask in countries that is not America?

It makes you wonder if we here in Australia should get excited over the E3 Dashboard news when we were not even getting what our mates in the USA are getting before. Almost every person i know are down on XBOX for not addressing the issues for Aus gamers (Video market place, inside XBOX, free themes and gamerpics and overblown price). ....0h and i still have not forgiven EA for not bringing RockBand to Aussie shores so who cares about Rockband 2? Come on Microsoft do the right thing by a community that has always supported you from day one. enough said !

...it was really hard writing this article. When you enjoy something and are really happy with the service like I am with LIVE, it's hard to think of ways to negatively comment on it without feeling dirty.

I've never been happy with the cost differences that non-US countries suffer, getting less features and having to pay alot more for it . So for those of you thinking "ZOMG, u r a xbot, how r u sayin theez thingz??" - it's ok to enjoy the positives and comment on the negatives...

XboxLIVE is my online service of choice, but that doesn't make it perfect :)

I'd be happier to pay for a Live that has levels of player distinction (family, casual, hardcore, pro) so that the people who want to act like asses can do so in their category but for people with kids like me I can have them play without drunk songs, swearing and abuse.

Also more policing of the service...when you have strip UNO going on (a game my wife or kids might play), you have a problem.